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New Jersey group fights plan to poison, bury cats in Israeli city
ROBIN FRIEDMAN
New Jersey Jewish News
WHIPPANY, N.J. - A New Jersey group has joined in the fight to save thousands of cats from being killed in Israel.
Arad for Animals, an animal-rights group in Arad, a city of about 23,000 residents in southern Israel, is seeking a court injunction to prevent the municipal government from killing about 5,000 cats. After reading an appeal for help on the Internet, the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance decided to enter the fray, writing to Israeli officials in protest.
Running rampant throughout the city, Arad's cats are thought to pose a health risk as possible carriers of rabies.
"Everywhere you go, there are cats. You can't open your front door without a cat trying to get inside," says Dr. Joseph Simhon, city veterinarian and head of the sanitation department. "I'm not anxious to kill. It's not very nice to kill animals. But I'm in charge of the public health. I'm trying to save people."
The plan calls for authorities to set out food laced with an agent called alpha-chloralose throughout the city. According to Simhon, the agent is an anesthetic that will put the cats into a coma. Then the cats will be collected, placed in plastic bags and buried. Any animals who are still alive will be given lethal shots and buried with the others.
Arad for Animals believes the cats will simply be immobilized until they can be suffocated in the plastic bags or buried alive, said Ellen Moshenberg, chairwoman of Arad for Animals.
Janine Motta, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, said such an action would constitute animal cruelty under New Jersey law. If, however, a New Jersey city were overrun with cats that were perceived to be a health risk, they would probably be put to death after being transported to an animal shelter, she said.
"It's not the right way,"said Rivi Mayer, director of the Cat Welfare Society of Israel. "If there is a serious threat, there are humane ways. Throwing poison around is very, very stupid. It's really very backward. It's not what a modern country would do."
Simhon acknowledged that it is rare to catch rabies from a cat; most cases are spread by dogs and, in Arad, by foxes from the nearby desert. But the city official added that he is worried that rabies will eventually spread to the cats and he doesn't want to wait for that to happen before taking action.
"I have to look forward. I have to take measures to prevent this from happening," said Simhon, who has four cats as pets. "I'm made out to be the bad guy, that I hate cats. I didn't become a veterinarian because I hate cats. But I can't let stray animals wander the city."
Both animal-rights groups in Israel would like Arad to implement a spay and neuter program to control the high number of cats. Simhon said the city cannot afford it, but is open to allowing volunteer veterinarians and members of animal-rights groups to spay and neuter all the cats in Arad.
Mayer said cats are simply not held in high regard in Israel, where they are frequently likened to rodents. On this point, all parties agree.
"When I brought my cat to Israel, people thought I came from the moon," said Moshenberg, who made aliyah from the United States in 1975. Simhon said, "Nobody wants cats," adding that Arad has a dog shelter but no facility for cats.
In the United States, a country where cats are more popular than dogs, such sentiments are hard to swallow.
"All animals have the right to live," said Motta. "We shouldn't debate which ones are worthwhile and which aren't."
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